Electronic (digitized) signatures are becoming increasingly common in the execution of contracts, the payment for commercial transactions, and in many other aspects of commerce. A necessary component for the utility and acceptance of electronic signatures is the ability to authenticate such signatures. Many such authentication procedures have been proposed, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,307,955, the entirety of which is incorporated by this reference.
All known prior art authentication methods, however, required the existence of an established reference signature in electronic form. There are many circumstances, however, where such established reference signatures in electronic form is not available and is no longer obtainable. Accordingly, there is a need for a method for verifying an electronic signature where a verified signature may not be available.